Accommodation Search

Join in

Featured Destination

Thomas Hardy’s celebration of Christmas in Dorset in his early novel Under the Greenwood Tree is perhaps second only to A Christmas Carol (a version ...MoreMore Uk destinations

Jean Simmons

For decades Jean Simmons was a star in her native Britain and then in Hollywood, her ability to convey sexy innocence winning her major roles like Ophelia to Olivier’s Hamlet; Estella in David Lean’s Great Expectations; the female lead in the daring Blue Lagoon – and all those before she was 21. After coming of age she decamped to Hollywood, married Stewart Granger and then built a new part of her career, albeit with many so-so roles on the way. But anyone who can put Spartacus, The Big Country, The Robe, The Happy Ending and Guys and Dolls on her CV could never be called an also ran. She was a star with staying power beneath her fragile beauty, and a figure of heroic stature in British cinema history.